how do you feel about an acedemically competitive atmosphere? do you think it helps or hinders students? why

Question

telvin, sorry i have to disagree with you there with this quote:

"education is not a preparation for life, education is life itself"
Its too bad people are only measured by their skills, instead of who they really are; thats how society is set up now isnt it? Ya the pros are better schools, better health care, and more choices. but look at waht thats doing to students now, she as a teacher sees first hand the effects. It sounds as if youre saying someone should be ashamed if they aspire to be a teacher? see this is an example of how ppl dont realize or dont see how valuable education is. your just wrking hard for the grade, to get more money in the long run. thats how i see it. Thanks for the answers you two!

Answer 1

While cooperation sounds great, it does not reflect the real world. Competation is necessary though we don't want to take it overboard. In the real world, nobody cares how average you are; they all need the best. If you are lucky enough to get a job, you will always be overlooked for promotion as an average performer. Worse even, you will be the first to go when the company is "restructuring". It doesn't sound pretty but a a fact of life is that some human beings can do better than others.
I have a question: is being an average teacher your ambition? Don't you want to be the best you can be? Why then would you teach a child differently?

Answer 2

Coming from a very competitive high school, I think it is safe to say that it really depends on the student. I think the worst part about it is even if you are trying your best and you know you are and you get poor grades, it feels like you can't measure up to everyone else. But on the other hand, you sort of enjoy the competition as well. I think if I were to go to a regular school, I might have been at the top of my class but probably not have been working or learning this much.

Answer 3

A little bit of competition is OK for motivation but out of control competitiveness is a disease that permeates our whole society and has disasterous consequences for the searching of any real truth. Real education is cooperative, its not a game.